Little things from national media. Some directly about Pitt, some that just have potential impact and another thing that just caught my attention.
In the stories rounding up weekend basketball games, UConn is having its stature questioned.
With Connecticut still leading Pittsburgh by double digits early in the second half Saturday night, Dick Vitale said, “I just don’t think Pittsburgh is the same team as they were last year when they had Julius Page and Jarron Brown.” By the time the Panthers had completed their stunning comeback from 17 down to win 76-66, a more appropriate observation might have been, “I just don’t think UConn is the same team as they were last year when they had two NBA lottery picks and a four-year point guard.”
Of course, I think back to last year, when UConn appeared to be faltering and people were breaking legs jumping off their bandwagon. Calhoun is one of the best coaches in the game, I expect this team to regroup some time soon. Stewart Mandel also looks ahead to this week’s action and may be hedging on a key game.
Syracuse at Pittsburgh, Saturday. I don’t know how many people are aware of this, but the Orangemen are 19-1. But they’ve also barely been skating by lately and have yet to play a road game nearly as tough as this one.
I wish there was another game for Pitt this week before Saturday. Greg Doyel at Sportsline notes the game and how important it was for Pitt.
By the way, did anyone else notice all the 25-point halves last week? Pittsburgh’s Chevon Troutman had 25 in the second half against Connecticut, Florida State’s Von Wafer did it to Wake Forest in the first half and Boston College’s Jared Dudley rung up 25 on Villanova. All three of their teams won, too. Go figure.
Best wins
* No team picked up a more-needed win than No. 21 Pittsburgh, 76-66 at No. 16 UConn.
Mike DeCourcy at the Sporting News notes that the basketball scheduling for the, soon to be bloated, Big East is going to be reviewed after the first two years.
The Big East is planning to re-evaluate its basketball scheduling format after two seasons in the expanded 16-team format. Conference members will play 16 games, facing 10 teams once and three designated teams twice each. That means that each team will have two league partners each year that it does not play in the regular season. There are some in the league who would like to see the Big East go to an 18-game regular season. But the majority of coaches oppose that move because it would mean league members doing more damage to one another in the pursuit of NCAA Tournament bids.
That fits in my theory that the BE will split after about 5 years. They’ll find a lot of unhappy coaches and programs because of the system. Try something else that still won’t solve the problem of plain bloat and finally the football schools will say goodbye.
A couple weeks ago, I mentioned that Joe Crawford a much heralded freshman recruit to Kentucky was considering transferring, and Pitt was one of the schools looking at him. Problem was that his National Letter of Intent bound him to Kentucky for the full year, unless the school chose to release him from it. If he left, it would cost him a full year of eligibility, and he couldn’t play until his Junior year — losing a year and a half, really. Kentucky wouldn’t budge, and he has now returned. Both Seth Davis at SI and DeCourcy at TSN, see the same message for top blue chippers: Don’t sign a NLI. Here’s what Davis said (subs. req’d):
Memo to future blue-chip recruits: Do not, under any circumstances, sign a national letter of intent. That should be obvious in the wake of Kentucky’s decision to use the NLI’s guidelines to force freshman guard Joe Crawford to return to school after he told coach Tubby Smith last week that he wanted to transfer. The NLI says that if a player doesn’t finish his freshman season, he loses a year of eligibility unless his school waives that penalty. Kentucky administrators chose not to do that, leaving Crawford little choice but to stay in Lexington and give the Wildcats another chance. Most players are unaware that they don’t have to sign a letter of intent. The NLI program is administered not by the NCAA but by the Collegiate Commissioners Association, and its provisions are written to protect schools and coaches, not players. Had Crawford known last April what a bad deal the NLI is for players, it’s doubtful he would have signed on the dotted line.
DeCourcy followed up from a question in his mailbag.
…You make a bold statement saying: “Future Joe Crawfords might want to think twice before even signing a letter. Players don’t have to sign to receive an athletic scholarship, and a letter does not guarantee a scholarship.”
This may well be true for a Division II or III school, however in competitive Division I basketball there is no way that a big-time program is going to risk a McDonald’s All-American not showing up to campus. Letters of Intent are necessary for NCAA basketball recruitment to run smoothly.
Were I the parent of an elite recruit, I would never let him or her sign a letter of intent. I’d tell the school that my kid would be showing up for classes and workouts in the summer, and that if my word wasn’t good enough then I’d find a coach and program that were more trusting.
I understand why schools feel the need to have the letter — I just do not understand why they choose to make the letter favor the university to such a great degree. You say that no program would risk a McDonald’s All-American not showing up? What school is going to turn down a commitment from somebody like Joe Crawford on the grounds he refused to sign?
I have to say, Davis and DeCourcy look right. Crawford may not have gotten what he wanted, but you have to think at least some future recruits and their parents will have noticed what happened and fight against signing.
Sticking with Mike DeCourcy, who had a real busy day, a lot of stuff seeing how the preseason predictions look at mid season. From the hits and misses list. First a Miss then a Hit
Chris Taft. We had the wrong Big East sophomore making a huge advance. Taft was ranked as the No. 5 center; UConn’s Josh Boone was No. 10. Reversing their spots would have been more accurate.
…
Penn State. Hours of research and years of experience went into designating the Nittany Lions as No. 11 in the Big Ten.
He also singles out what Pitt needs to fix to save the season.
Pittsburgh’s defense. Unyielding man-to-man defense was the foundation of the Panthers’ three straight Big East championships, and they spent most of a cushy December pretending nothing had changed. But as the Panthers went 3-3 in a six-game stretch, their opponents shot 48.2 percent from the field. Pitt switched to zone defense when it could not keep St. John’s from penetrating. This team needs a new defensive identity in a big hurry.
Yep.
For those who still think (or may be hoping) that Carl Krauser might try to go pro after this season. Consider this (subs. req’d)
This draft is shaping up to be one of the best point-guard drafts ever. Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Raymond Felton, John Gilchrist, Ronnie Brewer, Jarrett Jack and Curtis Stintson along with international prospects Roki Leni Ukic and Uros Tripkovic, are all possible first-round picks if they declare.
Factor in Krauser’s shoulder issue and poor play in January, and if Krauser tried to come out this year, he’d be lucky to get signed to play in the NBDL.
Final, unrelated to Pitt but something I find interesting. Colorado University has run a huge deficit for its athletic department because of all the money it had to pay for investigations and still has to pay in litigation because of its football program. As such, all programs are forced to make major cuts — especially in the travel budget — and it appears to be putting the basketball teams at academic risk (via College Basketball Blog — #9). The charter flights have been cancelled, so kids aren’t getting back to campus to make class. And speaking of Colorado, that hard recruiting code they instituted with much fanfare and pride. Already being relaxed when faced with reality.
It took the administration at Colorado less than two months into the heart of recruiting season to realize the university’s new stringent standards weren’t going to cut it. Idealism was fun while it lasted.
The new standards aren’t unrealistic, but they make the coaches sell the program by themselves. Which is why with two weeks remaining until national signing day, the university quietly agreed to allow current players to meet recruits and sell the university.
…
It’s too late for the relaxed standards to help this season, but they will have an impact on future recruiting classes. And, by next year, don’t be surprised if those standards are — quietly — all but eliminated.
Shocked that is happening. Well, shocked they couldn’t even last a year.
